[big jim]

ive had my R53 since january, bought it after finding it in a barn where it had been stood for almost 3 years having covered 40 mile in that time, got it on the road in march after doing a few minor bits to get it through the MOT

anyhoo, it broke the magic 100K landmark 6 weeks back so i got it booked into Lohen for a supercharger service and a few other bits and bobs to be done, unfortunatly but not unexpectedly for a car that had been stood for so long a few other issues were found, knackered rear engine mounting, CV boot split, belt tensioner 'shock absorber' missing, hole in radiator and the plastic radiator surround/holder broken (only the pipes were holding the radiator in place!)

managed to get some of the bits today such as a new nissen radiator and a 2nd hand housing for a fraction of the OEM price which ill be dropping off tomorrow for them to fit, they are supplying the tensioner 'obsorber' bit as they have one on the shelf but things like the engine mount and cv boot can get done at my local garage as their labour prices are cheaper than Lohen

other than that lot above im also having a smaller pulley fitted, a Kavs 11% and a superchip bluefin stage 2 set up (i had a spare bluefin handset i had redone for the cooper s), ive already a larger intercooler fitted to the car and last week switched from a cheapo ebay cone filter to a Ramair cone filter, finally i have a miltek/toyosport exhaust set up (the non resonated toyosport got too much for the commute to work so i fitted a resonated centre pipe instead which is much quieter)

hopefully it should be done tomorrow and i'll collect it on wednesday, im having a dyno run to see what sort of power its putting out too

 

[R53Colm]

All the best with it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dave^]

Did the Miltek need much fettling to fit?

 

[big jim]

Not much, they cut a bit off the toyosport back end to turn into a sleeve and it went straight on

dropped the bits off with lohen this morning but on the way I hit a pothole and burst the tyre on the courtesy car so I’ve got to pay for that too, on top of that the damper on the belt tensioner was discovered to be broken so it needs one of them, typically I had a fully pulley tension wheel set months back that someone sent me with an alternator but as I didn’t have a Cooper s at the time i sold them on eBay!

 

[CarsOrBikes]

sensible choice on the pulley,

are you far from Wirral?

what drew you to Lohen, the s/c service?

do you know why the car was left so long?

odd that the damper was missing.

 

[big jim]

Not far from the Wirral, only in crewe

As I’m new to the mini scene I didn’t actually know who lohen were, found the website and then discovered they were only 40 mins down the A51, The price for the supercharger service seemed fair for what I would call a specialist job (£375 iirc), if I asked my local garage to do it I should imagine they would take a lot longer to do as it’s not an everyday job for them, as for the other work needing doing it will go to my local mechanic as his labour charges are 50% cheaper than lohen for ‘normal’ jobs

it’s a shame I’ve had to have the extra work done but I’m hoping that once it’s complete I will get a few more years out of the car

the belt tensioner (if I’m calling it the right thing), a little shock absorber looking thing on the back on the pulley assembly is present but it’s seized solid so practically doing nothing

basically the car was bought by someone who couldn’t afford to insure it so it just sat in the barn all year only coming out for 2 MOTs! I Only gave £1100 for it which was a bargain even taking into account the work I’ve done

 

[big jim]

This is turning into a big job now, dread to think what the final bill is going to be!

the Heating has stopped working and it’s now overheating, it’s not been fantastic heating wise anyway so I’d asked them to investigate but now it’s completely u/s and overheating

2 studs snapped so they have had to be drilled out

pipe missing from supercharger, whatever bit it is is venting to atmosphere

and leaking pipe going to the intercooler

and to top it off one of the chrome headlight rings off the courtesy car has gone missing overnight while parked up!

 

[CarsOrBikes]

Ok, yes not so far, I have a Crewe car here at the moment. Seems to work out with lifts to station etc. I go out that way fairly often to J16 M6 south saving a lump of motorway hassle and never seems to take that long,

well stuff does happen, to be fair your local guy could really do all this I expect, I doubt the bill will be nice but hopefully the car will be straight, what were the studs for?

pipe missing completely is interesting,

these have a habit of forming blockages in heater matrixes sometimes fwiw, or heat exchangers in particular so maybe it wants a few places checking and a couple of flushes, the cooling fans often don't work on speed one either. Heat exchangers can look like this under the hose....

hope it gets sorted anyway ;O)

 

[big jim]

Yeah I’m under no illusion that a 16 year old car that’s been stood round for a long time will have ‘issues’ and as you say hopefully it will get it sorted

it was just one of those days yesterday, been working nights and kept getting calls to tell me about the various problems (obviously so I could authorise the extra work to be done) as for which pipe it was and what studs I don’t know as yet as it was all being described down the phone but I’ll have a better idea later when I take the courtesy car back, they need it back at 08:00, if mine is still u/sDue to overheating I don’t know what I’ll do to get it hom

then to top it off my wife’s Nissan Murano’s wheel bearing and abs sensor has gone too, so that’s getting fixed today as well and that ain’t cheap either!

I’ll have to pop over and see you in heswall next time I need something major doing, pop down to park gate for an ice cream while I’m there

 

[big jim]

Well the car is now sat in lohen until next week until they have time to carry on with it for me, not a huge issue as I’ve got the convertible to use in the mean time

It appears the heater matrix is completely blocked, no heat coming through at all but they have done a leak test on the rest of the system and it’s fine, no leaks etc

the ‘leaking pipe’ on the intercooler are actually the snoot boots that came with a cheapo intercooler I fitted myself a few months back, swapping them for decent Alta ones instead, as they stand now I could push down on the clamp with the engine running and you could hear the air leak stopping

the other pipe leaking to atmosphere is one to the rear of the rocker cover on the oil filler cap side that disappears down the back of the engine, looking at an on line parts guide I think it may head off to the manifold, not 100% sure though?

as for my wife’s Murano, that set me back £300!

 

[CarsOrBikes]

if it was an MTC intercooler they're made too small on the exhaust side and need packing out not new boots.

the pipe is the servo pipe from what you describe I think, there is a joint almost level with the filler cap, it goes into the plastic intake tract after the throttle housing, right next to a grey one from the map sensor also near the filler cap side but lower down kind of concealed by the top of the sensor you can see is held in by two small allen head screws.

300 is perhaps not so bad next to your Mini bill....

If the matrix is blocked maybe ask them to release the hoses on the heat exchanger while the coolant is out just to see if also blocked, won't take them long in the scheme of things, maybe osf wheel, liner, 2x spring clamps.

 

[big jim]

Hopefully Lohen have got the final bits of work done today, it was booked to be worked on between 14:00 and 17:00 and touch wood it’s 17:25 and they haven’t rang me to say they have found further issues

dyno run tomorrow if all has gone ok

 

[Astroboy]

Look forward to seeing the results

 

[big jim]

So am I, had the final bill for all the extra bits and work needing doing, 4 figures but I’m hoping the car is now tip top

 

[tcbw]

NIce to see a car getting back on the road, and not just stripped for parts...

 

[big jim]

Hopefully, other than need a tyre, The supercharger Bill will be the biggest expense I’ll have to shell out and its going to be running nicely now

apparently it’s putting out 210bhp, ill have the exact dyno figures tomorrow when I collect it (and heating!)

so after that lot and my wife’s murano needing doing I’ve got the joys of the MOT on the R52 in 3 weeks!

 

[big jim]

Got it back earlier and it feels like a different car, a lot more oomph in it now

Dyno’d at 210-212 bhp which I’m happy with



Gone is the flat spot I had when I first put my foot down, probably the new snoot boots and vacuum pipe cured that

pulls in every gear now, top end engine rattle has gone, the new tensioner sorting that no doubt

had 2 new tyres fitted too when I got back to crewe then set off for the Cumbrian coast in it, 160 mile trip, 40 mins sat in traffic on the M6 and the temperature gauge didn’t raise above half way thanks to the new radiator and the heating is brilliant thanks to the new heater matrix, managed an average 35mpg which is pretty good I recon, I only managed 37 mpg this morning on the same trip in the lightly modded (non supercharged) R52

despite the job ending up costing twice as much as originally planned due to other bits being knackered or missing I'm more than happy with the result as the car feels so much tighter and smoother now

just 2 more jobs to do with my cheaper local garage, rear engine mount and CV boot and it should be done (then it’s MOT time for the convertible)

 

[Astroboy]

Sounds like a win, win, win

 

[big jim]

Just got myself an Airtec intercooler off Ebay, 10% off new items yesterday so paid £350 for it, combined with TopCashback I should get another £4 off

also got an atomspeed scoop to fit off maccmike too, just need to get that painted black first

hopefully get the intercooler later in the week and get it fitted

 

[Maccmike]

Nice meeting you Jim.